This is a funny story...funny for you all, not for me. It is kind of long, but be patient, you all should enjoy it.

A few months ago I pulled my starter out to replace the contacts. As safety requires, I pulled the negative terminal to my battery and went to work. We lived near a busy road and near a flight path to Seatac airport at the time, so at first I did not notice the music from the neighbors house. As I worked an listened more I realized that it was the same station I listen to, which was funny, because I never knew them to like that kind of music. A few minutes later I walked past my opened driver's door and realized the music was coming from my truck! I went back to the battery to make sure the negative was not contacting the terminal...all was good. Sheepishly, and totally confused, I reached in and turned off the stereo, which should have been off anyway. I started having visions of little gremlins living in my truck. I finished the project and went on with my life, never hearing a good explanation for the haunted stereo. Maybe we lived on an old Indian burial ground?

We moved a few months later. Yesterday I went to work on the truck, getting it prepped for tomorrow's trip to Tahuya. I disconnected the battery to remove it and replace it with a new one. I disconnected all connections to the battery and guess what? Yep, the stereo came on. I don't know if I can sufficiently explain just how stup and utterly confused I felt, standing there looking at a completely disconnected battery while listening to my stereo play music. I pulled the battery from the engine compartment and the stereo stopped...the gremlins apparently live in the battery, maybe they like the warmth or something.

I put the new battery in and, as I started to tighten the hold-down, everything came into focus! I use a top/side post battery. As the hold-down on my '91 is tighten down, the is a small barcket on it that bredges between the two side terminals, carrying a charge down the long j-shaped bolt and into the body of the truck! Ureka! Scott Richter-Super Genius! (Well, not really, but I felt pretty good about figuring this out!)

Moral: If you are having battery drain problems or your stereo turns on when it shouldn't, check your battery hold down to make sure it isn't bridging between the terminals!

 

NICE! You're lucky the positive side didn't short out... Wow that woulda' been bad!

 

Have any rackets mysteriously stick to the body panels??? Haha